GESTURES OF INFANTS WITH AUTISM, OTHER DD, AND TYPICAL DEVELOPMENT

Background:

Gestures may differentiate infants with autism or other developmental disabilities (DD) from typical development (TD), and account for variability in later communication.

Objectives:

Gestures of infants with autism, DD, or TD at Time 1 (9-12 months) and Time 2 (15-18 months) were examined to: (1) determine group differences in behavior regulation (BR), joint attention (JA), and social interaction (SI) gestures; (2) compare developmental trajectories of gestures; and (3) use infant gestures to predict preschool communication.

Methods:

Parents of preschoolers provided home videos of their children as infants. Children’s preschool skills were assessed using the Vineland. Representative video segments were coded for BR, JA and SI gestures at Times 1 and 2. At Time 1, n=31 autism, 18 DD, and 30 TD; at Time 2, n=21 autism, 12 DD, and 12 TD; at both time points, n=19 autism, 5 DD, and 12 TD.

Results:

(1) Multivariate analyses yielded significant group effects for BR and JA at Time 1, and for BR, SI, and JA at Time 2. Post-hoc analyses showed infants with autism and DD were similar at Time 1, but differentiated by Time 2. (2) For BR, growth slopes from Time 1 to Time 2 were similar for autism and TD. For SI and JA, slopes were similar for DD and TD, but flatter for autism. (3) For the autism group, gestures at Time 1 accounted for significant variance in preschool Vineland Communication (R² =.29, F=3.96, p=.018).

Conclusions:

Limited BR and JA gestures at 9-12 months are associated with both autism and DD. Autism-specific deficits in JA are apparent at 15-18 months. Infants with autism may also be distinguishable by slowed growth of both SI and JA gestures in the first half of the 2^nd year. Gestures of infants with autism around one year predict preschool communication.